text:
The video contains everything you could want to know about the rape allegations against Assange.
In the video, it states that Assange arrived in Sweden in August 2010, "where he was greeted like a conquering hero."
However, within weeks of his visit to Sweden, there was a warrant issued for his arrest and he was being investigated for rape and sexual molestation.
In the video, Four Corners reporters, Andrew Fowler and Wayne Harley, examine in detail what happened during the weeks Assange spent in Sweden, the nature of his relationship with the two women, and also what they told police that caused them to seek his extradition and arrest.
Julian Assange remains at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he is seeking political asylum in that country.
KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: He humiliated the most powerful country in the world. But his relationship with two Swedish women, and their claims of sexual assault, may yet destroy Julian Assange.
PER E. SAMUELSON, SWEDISH DEFENCE LAWYER FOR ASSANGE: You shouldn't write such text messages if you had been raped by that person the night before.
CLAES BORGSTROM, LAWYER FOR ANNA ARDIN & SOFIA WILEN: I will not tell any media of how I am going to represent the women in court. I'm sorry.
KERRY O'BRIEN: Sex, lies, the Swedish justice system, the founder of WikiLeaks – and, somewhere in the background, an angry and embarrassed US government. A tangled web indeed. Welcome to Four Corners.
Julian Assange may have suspended his fate at the hands of a Swedish court by claiming political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, but the Swedes are not going away anytime soon. Nor are the British police, who are waiting to arrest him and extradite him to Stockholm the minute he attempts to leave his temporary sanctuary. Assange's troubles in Sweden go back almost exactly two years. The first sensational intelligence of diplomatic leaks had already hit the public domain. In the American government's eyes, Assange had become public enemy number one. But for many others around the world, he was a cause célèbre. But for all their power and influence in the world, they had seemed impotent to stop the leaks, or somehow make Assange pay for what they saw as espionage.
When it emerged that two young Swedish women were pressing charges against him, alleging rape and molestation in somewhat curious circumstances, an extradition proceedings began in the British courts, Assange alleged that America was somehow manipulating the whole process behind the scene, in order to in turn extradite him back to the US to face the judicial music there.
On the assumption that Assange can't wait in his Ecuadorian sanctuary forever, and while we await the outcome of that standoff, Four Corners has gone back to Sweden, where the drama began, to pin down what actually happened there, and take a closer look at the inconsistencies in the various versions of events. Here is Andrew Fowler's report.
ANDREW FOWLER, REPORTER: In late 2009 WikiLeaks set up home in the Iceland capital of Reykjavik. It was a perfect fit. Iceland has world class internet. Its constitution forbids censorship. Julian Assange was made welcome. It was here that Assange received the first leaked cable of the now famous Cablegate documents. It centred on the US embassy in Reykjavik. Birgitta Jonsdottir, an Icelandic MP was working with WikiLeaks. She received an invitation to a cocktail party at the Embassy
BIRGITTA JONSDOTTIR, MP, ICELAND: Cocktail parties are mind-numbingly boring, and I only go if I have a reason. So I actually decided… I thought it was sort of funny and I'm a bit of a prankster sometimes, so I decided it would be quite funny for me to go with one of the WikiLeaks people to the Embassy.
ANDREW FOWLER: She invited Julian Assange, but on the day of the cocktail party she couldn't find him. Birgitta Jonsdottir decided not to go, but Assange did.
In a moment of monumental chutzpah Julian Assange inveigled his way into the cocktail party here at the US embassy. He struck up a conversation with US diplomat Sam Watson. Several weeks later Assange published confidential cables authored by the very same diplomat. Now Sam Watson hadn't leaked and neither had any of the other US Embassy staff. Nonetheless, there was a massive internal investigation.
BIRGITTA JONSDOTTIR: I think that many people thought that he had actually gone in and mysteriously sucked out the cables with some spy device or something.
ANDREW FOWLER: Once the document came out, it was convenient to say it might have come from the Embassy?
BIRGITTA JONSDOTTIR: Of course, yeah.
ANDREW FOWLER: Which would have driven the United States intelligence agencies crazy trying to find out where this leak came from?
BIRGITTA JONSDOTTIR: Yes. Well you know, they all need to have a reason to earn their bread.
ANDREW FOWLER: It was the first act of humiliation by WikiLeaks of the world's greatest superpower, but it was nothing compared to what was to come: Collateral Murder; the gunning down of unarmed civilians in a Baghdad street; and the Afghan War Logs. Eight months after his taunting of the US in Iceland, Assange landed in Sweden. He was now a cyber-celebrity.
THOMAS MATTSSON, EDITOR, EXPRESSEN NEWSPAPER: I would say he was… it was a like a pop star, ah, arriving in Sweden. He made public appearances and many media companies wanted to, to talk about… talk with him about eventual co-operation with WikiLeaks.
ANDREW FOWLER: Assange had come to Sweden to speak at a conference, but he was also there for more intriguing reasons – to negotiate the use of a former underground nuclear fall-out shelter that stores Internet servers. It would provide first class security against the prying eyes and ears of the world's intelligence agencies. The bomb shelter houses the computer hardware of Rick Falkvinge's Swedish Pirate Party.
RICK FALKVINGE, SWEDISH PIRATE PARTY: We contacted them first, as in just offering server space – right?
ANDREW FOWLER: It might sound like a whacky organisation, but in Sweden it's taken seriously enough to have a member in the European Parliament. The Party's close to WikiLeaks.
RICK FALKVINGE: So we knew about them, they knew about us. We saw they were in trouble and we said, "Hey guys we might be able to help you out here."
ANDREW FOWLER: Falkvinge offered WikiLeaks some space in the bunker.
RICK FALKVINGE: It's an amazing place, to be honest. But, yeah, that's where we offered them hosting space. I don't know how they're using it. I shouldn't know how they're using it. That would interfere with my interests. But I understand it got quite some attention worldwide that WikiLeaks is now hosted in a nuclear bomb-proof fallout shelter.
ANDREW FOWLER: Assange was on a roll. Stockholm August 16th, 2010. Julian Assange caught a train from the central station. All the years of hard work were finally paying dividends for Julian Assange. Collateral Murder had been released, so too had the Afghan War Logs. But what would happen in the next few days would derail the WikiLeaks juggernaut.
Assange was not travelling alone. His companion was Sofia Wilen, a 26-year-old admirer. As Assange and Wilen left the train to spend the night together, they could have no idea of the repercussions that would flow from their one night stand. Assange's life would later descend into turmoil.
Two days earlier, the faithful and adoring had gathered at the L.O. building – Stockholm's Trade Union Headquarters. In the audience were two women: Sofia Wilen – in the pink cashmere sweater – and Anna Ardin. Assange was staying at Ardin's flat. They'd slept together the previous night. Later she would tell a friend she had a "wild weekend" with Assange.
Sofia Wilen was enthralled by the Assange phenomena – she texted during his talk, "He looked at me!"
PER E. SAMUELSON: He came to Sweden on the 11th of August 2010, and he had this apartment where one of these women lived. She was supposed to be away so he could stay there, but she came home on the that Friday night – 13th of August – and then they had co…sensual sex and he continued to stay in that apartment until the 18th of August. But in the meantime he made acquaintance with the other woman, and and one night he travelled to her town in Sweden and they had co-co-co…
ANDREW FOWLER: Consensual.
PER E. SAMUELSON: Consensual sex.
ANDREW FOWLER: The sex with Sofia Wilen in her apartment might have been consensual, but critically there was a question over whether Assange had used a condom. The next day, Assange caught the train back to Stockholm. Wilen stayed at home, worried about the possibility of an STD infection. She later rang Anna Ardin, Assange's lover of the previous week.
PER E. SAMUELSON: Somehow the two women started to exchange text messages which… with each other and started to discuss what had happened, and they ended up at the police station, but they did not file any charges against Julian.
ANDREW FOWLER: Ardin and Wilen went to Central Stockholm's Klara police station to see if they could compel Assange to take an STD test should he refuse.
PER E. SAMUELSON: But the police interpreted what one of the girls said as some sort of sex crime having been committed and that resulted in a prosecutor the same night issuing a warrant of arrest for Julian.
ANDREW FOWLER: It would become a tabloid journalist's dream: sex, politics and international intrigue.
(to Thomas Mattson) How big a story has the Assange case been here?
THOMAS MATTSON: The Assange story has been huge, of course…
ANDREW FOWLER: Thomas Mattson is the Editor of Expressen.
THOMAS MATTSON: The story has so many aspects. You have the political question whether this is a case created to damage WikiLeaks…
ANDREW FOWLER: At the time though, Mattson thought it was little more than salacious scandal.
THOMAS MATTSSON: I think that many people… in the beginning, people were, like, shaking their heads, thinking that if you are innocent, well in that case, this is, cannot be a problem. Just show up, say that you're innocent and you will most probably be cleared, if that's the case.
ANDREW FOWLER: Assange in fact did go to the Swedish Police ten days after the first allegations were made. He was interviewed but not charged with any offence, and he was free to leave the country while the inquiry continued.
PER E. SAMUELSON: In mid-September he got a message from his then-lawyer, but the prosecutor did not want him and… that he was… for an interview, and that he was free to leave Sweden, and under that assumption he left Sweden in the afternoon of the 27th of September in good faith that he had sought for and got approval from the prosecutor to leave the country.
ANDREW FOWLER: Assange made his way to London, holing up at the Frontline Club for journalists. He had unfinished business with America.
JULIAN ASSANGE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, WIKILEAKS (October, 2010): This disclosure is about the truth.
ANDREW FOWLER: Assange was at his peak, working with some of the most prestigious and influential media outlets in the world – including the Guardian and New York Times. But ominously, 12 days after giving Assange clearance to leave the country, the Swedes issued a warrant for his arrest. Three weeks later WikiLeaks launched the third big hit against America: The Iraq War Logs.
Then the Swedish prosecutor upped the ante – with Assange now working on the biggest and most sensitive cache of US cables yet, Sweden issued an Interpol Red Notice for his arrest.
JENNIFER ROBINSON, UK LEGAL ADVISOR TO ASSANGE: You only need to look at the way that Red Notices are used around the world. Red Notices are normally the preserve of terrorists and dictators. The president of Syria does not have a Red Notice alert. Gaddafi in Libya, at the same time Julian's arrest warrant was issued, was not subject to a Red Notice but an Orange Notice. It was an incredibly… it was incredibly unusual that a red notice would be sought for an allegation of this kind.
ANDREW FOWLER: The timing of the Red Notice could not have been worse. US Army soldier Bradley Manning had allegedly leaked WikiLeaks more than a quarter of a million classified documents, and Julian Assange was anxious to get them out. They became known as Cablegate.
JULIAN ASSANGE (September 2011): There are so many thousands of stories that have come from that and have influenced elections and have been involved in the course of revolutions.
HILLARY CLINTON, US SECRETARY OF STATE: The United States strongly condemns the illegal disclosure of classified information. It puts people's lives in danger, threatens out national security, and undermines our efforts to work with other countries to solve shared problems.
ANDREW FOWLER: An outraged Washington set up a crack team of Pentagon investigators to take on WikiLeaks. It even launched a legally questionable financial blockade to starve WikiLeaks of funds. For America, Cablegate was the final straw. Some even wanted Assange dead.
(Excerpt from Fox News, December, 2010)
FOX PANELLIST: This guy's a traitor, a treasonous, and, and he's broken every law of the United States, the guy ought to be… and I'm not for the death penalty, so if I'm not for the death penalty there's only one way to do it: illegally shoot the son-of-a-bitch.
FOX PRESENTER: Paul what about it?
FOX PANELLIST II: This little punk… now I stand up for Obama. Obama, if you're listening today you should take this guy out, have the CIA take him out.
(End of excerpt)
ANDREW FOWLER: If Assange was looking for support from home, he didn't get it.
JULIA GILLARD, AUSTRALIAN PM (December 2010): I absolutely condemn the placement of this information on the WikiLeaks website. It is a grossly irresponsible thing to do – and, an illegal thing to do.
ANDREW FOWLER: The then-Attorney-General threatened to revoke his Australian passport. It was only because the Federal Police believed that Assange's passport was the best way to track him that he kept it.
JULIAN ASSANGE (September 2011): Well the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General are US lackeys. I mean, it's a simple as that. They had a whole of government task force involving every intelligence agency and the Australian Federal Police and the Department of Defence and him trying to work out how to deal with WikiLeaks and me personally.
ANDREW FOWLER: Though the task force found that Assange had broken no law, his more immediate worry was that his extradition to Sweden would be a backdoor to onward extradition to the United States.
For more than 500 days Julian Assange and his legal team fought his extradition. Through the magistrates courts to the High Court and on to the Supreme Court, the most powerful court in the land. But on June the 14th Julian Assange lost his final appeal. The Supreme Court ruled he'd have to be extradited. Five days later, Assange fled to the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.
Last month, we managed a brief phone call from a London hotel with Assange in the embassy.
(on phone to Julian Assange) Ok, hang on, I'm just going to put the speaker phone on, one second, sorry…
He revealed why he was seeking political asylum.
JULIAN ASSANGE (on phone): Yes, there are a number of dramatic events that occurred just beforehand. First of all, the Swedish government publicly announced that it would detain me without charge in prison under severe conditions. On the same evening, the UK government security contractors that maintained the electronic manacle around my leg turned up unannounced at 10.30pm and insisted on fitting another manacle to my leg, saying that this was part of routine maintenance – which did not sound to be credible.
ANDREW FOWLER: Assange sensed that the net was tightening around him.
JULIAN ASSANGE (on phone): Then the next day, the Crown Prosecution Service, acting we believe on behalf of the Swedish government, requested that the 14 days that I had to apply to the European Court of Human Rights, be reduced to zero.
Assange is safe all the time he remains inside the embassy. But once he steps out, it's almost certain he'll be arrested and extradited to Sweden.
PER E. SAMUELSON: The minute he hits Swedish soil he will be arrested. He will be brought to a custody jail. He will be kept there in isolation for four days. He can only meet with me and my co-lawyer. On the fourth day he will be brought into a courtroom in handcuffs in front of a custody judge, and they will decide whether he will be kept in custody up until the final court case is tried, or if we if he will be released. I will try to get him released of course. But at least four days in Sweden in Swedish prison is… we can't avoid that.
ANDREW FOWLER: At the heart of the matter is whether the Swedish judicial authorities will treat him fairly. Certainly, events so far provide a disturbing picture of Swedish justice. Using facts agreed between the defence and prosecution and other verified information, we have pieced together what happened during those crucial three weeks in August.
On August 11th, 2010, Assange arrived in Sweden to attend a conference organised by the Swedish Brotherhood – a branch of the Social Democratic Party. He was offered Anna Ardin's apartment while she was away, but Ardin returned home a day early on Friday the 13th. She invited Assange to stay the night, and they had sex. She would later tell police Assange had violently pinned her down and ignored her requests to use a condom. Assange denies this.
The following day, Assange addressed the conference with Ardin at his side. Later that afternoon Ardin organised the Swedish equivalent of a top-notch barbeque – a Crayfish Party. She posted a Twitter message. "Julian wants to go to a crayfish party. Anyone have a couple of available seats tonight or tomorrow?"
The crayfish party was held that night in a court yard off her apartment. It went on until the early hours of the morning. Ardin tweeted at 2am: "Sitting outdoors at 02:00 and hardly freezing with the world's coolest, smartest people! It's amazing!"
A guest at the party would later tell Swedish Police the event was a very hearty evening. When he offered to put Assange up at his apartment, Ardin replied, "He can stay with me."
In the past 24 hours, Ardin had worked closely with Assange, had sex with him, organised a crayfish party on his behalf – and, according to one witness, turned down alternate accommodation for him. It is during this same period that police will later investigate whether Assange coerced and sexually molested Anna Ardin.
PER E. SAMUELSON: Well, if you send text messages like that, "I've just spent some time with the coolest people in the world", the night after you then say you were raped – I mean you shouldn't write such text messages if you had been raped by that person the night before.
ANDREW FOWLER: Your client described Julian Assange as a "cool man". I think, one of the "coolest men in the world" that she'd had in her bed.
CLAES BORGSTROM: I will argue in court. I have of course arguments concerning exactly what you're talking about now, but I will not tell any media of how I am going to represent the women in in court. I'm sorry.
ANDREW FOWLER: But can you see how that looks as though…
CLAES BORGSTROM: Yes, of course I can.
ANDREW FOWLER: …it's a fit up. It looks as though they are in fact setting him up.
CLAES BORGSTROM: I'm quite aware of that.
ANDREW FOWLER: Sunday August 15th – the next day. Assange attended a dinner party at Stockholm's Glenfiddich restaurant, organised by pirate party founder Rick Falkvinge.
RICK FALKVINGE: I think a lot of people at the… at the table had meatballs. I think Julian might have been one of them. Now, Swedish meatballs that, that's a little bit like mum's apple pie in Sweden – as in, you can call my wife ugly, you can kick my dog, but the instant you say something bad about my mother's meatballs I'm going to take it personal.
ANDREW FOWLER: Also at the dinner was Anna Ardin.
(to Rick Falkvinge) So, just to get this straight: Julian Assange arrived with Anna Ardin and he left with Anna Ardin.
RICK FALKVINGE: Yep.
ANDREW FOWLER: What was their behaviour like towards each other?
RICK FALKVINGE: Well, I was discussing mainly with Julian and the… again I can't go into too much detail here, but it was at least a very professional dinner. There were two high level organisations, both intent on changing the world behaving professionally.
ANDREW FOWLER: The fact that Anna Ardin accompanied Julian Assange through this dinner and left with him – what does that say to you?
RICK FALKVINGE: Well that's going into speculating on merits of extradition, and I can't really do that. I think that be… you're presenting an objective fact, as did I, and if people want to read something into that that's obviously ripe for doing so, but I can't spell it out.
ANDREW FOWLER: Four Corners has obtained a photograph, lodged with police investigators, from that evening. Anna Ardin is on the left. Afterwards, Assange would again spend the night at her apartment.
The following day, August the 16th, Assange had sex with Sophia Wilen at her apartment. According to police records, Ardin was aware that he had slept with Sophia. A witness told police he contacted Anna Ardin looking for Assange. She texted back: "He's not here. He's planned to have sex with the cashmere girl every evening, but not made it. Maybe he finally found time yesterday?" That same day, the witness asked Ardin, "Is it cool he's living there? Do you want, like, for me to fix something else?" According to the witness she replied: "He doesn't, like, sleep at nights so that's a bit difficult. So he has a bit of difficulty taking care of his hygiene. But it's ok if he lives with me, it's no problem."
Three days later on August 20th, Wilen, accompanied by Ardin went to the Klara police station in central Stockholm to seek advice about whether Assange could be forced to take an STD test. Ardin had gone along primarily to support Wilen. Sometime during Wilen's questioning the police announced to Ardin and Wilen that Assange was to be arrested and questioned about possible rape and molestation. Wilen became so distraught she refused to give any more testimony and refused to sign what had been taken down.
JENNIFER ROBINSON: The circumstances leading up to the issue of the arrest warrant gave cause for grave concern for Julian about the procedures that were adopted in the investigation. We have to remember that when the announcement was put out that he would be subject to a warrant, one of the complainants was upset by that, and later said that she felt railroaded by the police.
KARIN ROSANDER, SWEDISH PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE: Well what happened is what was that the duty prosecutor got a phone call from the police and the duty prosecutor decided that he should be arrested.
ANDREW FOWLER: And what happened?
KARIN ROSANDER: He was arrested in his absence, but he… they never got in… got in contact with him so, but he was arrested in his absence. It's a technical… technical thing in Sweden, Swedish law, yeah.
ANDREW FOWLER: The Prosecutor's Office might not have contacted Assange but within hours they let the whole of Sweden know what was going on – leaking to the Expressen Tabloid the statements of Ardin and Wilen. The newspaper front page read: "Assange hunted for rape in Sweden".
JENNIFER ROBINSON: Julian wakes up the following morning to read the newspapers to hear that he's wanted for double rape and he's absolutely shocked.
THOMAS MATTSSON: Two of our reporters had information about Julian Assange, and we also had a confirmation from the prosecutor which confirmed on record that there was a police investigation against Julian Assange.
ANDREW FOWLER: It was now the case took a strange twist. Within 24 hours, a more senior prosecutor dismissed the rape allegations, leaving only the lesser accusation of molestation. Assange willingly went to the police on August 30th and made a statement.
During the interview he expressed his fears that anything he said would end up in the tabloid newspaper Expressen. The interviewing police officer said: "I'm not going to leak anything." The interview was leaked.
PER E. SAMUELSON: Why did you leak his name to a tabloid paper? How… how can you drop the case and reopen the case and how can you… how can you not say that he waited for five weeks in Sweden voluntarily to participate in the investigation? Why do you have to arrest him? Why do you have to keep him in handcuffs? Why can't you conduct this in a proper manner? The rest of the world sees it, but Sweden unfortunately doesn't.
ANDREW FOWLER: It is perhaps understandable that Assange had doubts he would receive fair treatment from the Swedish authorities. On September 15th, the prosecutor told Assange he was permitted to leave Sweden. Assange, back in England, would later offer to return within a month. The Swedish Authorities said too late – a second warrant had already been issued for his arrest.
ANDREW FOWLER: He says that he left the country and then was prepared to come back at any time. Is that your understanding?
CLAES BORGSTROM: I don't believe that.
ANDREW FOWLER: He says that he was prepared to come back in October but the prosecutor wanted him back earlier.
CLAES BORGSTROM: I don't know. I don't believe he wanted to he was he wanted to come freely back to Sweden. I don't think so.
ANDREW FOWLER: Can you understand that the Australian people may not understand how somebody can be accused in their absence when they haven't even been interviewed, then have that rape case dropped, the arrest warrant removed and then have it re-instituted, all in the space of a few days?
KARIN ROSANDER: Yeah I can very well understand the confusion and, and, I… that is very difficult to understand, well, exactly how it works.
ANDREW FOWLER: Well you call it confusing, it's… it may be slightly more than that.
KARIN ROSANDER: Well that's the way it works here in Sweden so, well… but I can understand the confusion, definitely.
ANDREW FOWLER: Assange, still hunkered down in the London embassy, has no doubt what his fate will be if he is extradited.
JULIAN ASSANGE (on phone): If I was suddenly taken to Sweden, I would not be in a position to apply for political asylum in relation to United States. it would be the end of the road. I would just be taken from one jail to another.
JENNIFER ROBINSON: the US has said specifically, the US ambassador to London said, they would wait to see what happened in Sweden. And so we are very concerned about the prospect that once matters are resolved in Sweden, he will… there will be an extradition request from there and he will not be able to travel home to Australia and will have to fight extradition in the Swedish court.
ANDREW FOWLER: The US Ambassador to Australia suggests that Washington isn't interested in the Swedish extradition.
JEFFREY L. BLEICH, US AMBASSADOR TO AUSTRALIA (May 2012): It's not something that the US cares about, it's not interested in it, it hasn't been involved in it – and frankly, if he's in Sweden, there's a less robust extradition relationship than there is between the US and the UK, so I think it's one of those narratives that has been made up – there's nothing to it.
MICHAEL RATNER, US LAWYER ASSANGE: That's diplomatic speak. That doesn't mean anything. Their last statement three days ago by their spokesperson Linn Boyd says we are continuing our investigation of WikiLeaks. So you can't accept those words.
ANDREW FOWLER: Michael Ratner, Assange's New York lawyer, believes there's an easy solution to the issue.
MICHAEL RATNER: If they flatly said, "We do not… we will not prosecute Julian Assange" that would be a very different kind of statement – and… and they, in my view, is they should that I think they should say it, one, because then Julian Assange could leave the Ecuadorian Embassy, go to Sweden, deal with Sweden and continue on with his life.
ANDREW FOWLER: But Ratner thinks that's not what the United States wants. He's convinced a Grand Jury is investigating WikiLeaks and Julian Assange. Four Corners has obtained a copy of a subpoena from a Grand Jury which is examining evidence for possible charges relating to "conspiracy to communicate or transmit national defence information" and obtaining "information protected from disclosure from national defence". Critically the subpoena contains the identifying codes "10" and "3793′.
MICHAEL RATNER: There's a Grand Jury currently sitting in Alexandria Virginia and the Grand Jury's number – and it's interesting the Grand Jury's number is 10 standing for the year it began, GJ which is Grand Jury and then 3793. Three is the Conspiracy Statute in the United States. 793 is the Espionage Statute. So what they're investigating is 3793: conspiracy to commit espionage.
ANDREW FOWLER: Certainly, anyone associated with Assange is feeling the heat of the US authorities. Icelandic activist, Smari McCarthy, worked on the Collateral Murder video. We caught up with him at a Reykjavik hotel.
ANDREW FOWLER: So what is it about WikiLeaks that changed everything?
SMARI MCCARTHY, ICELAND MODERN MEDIA INITIATIVE: It industrialised the process of leaking.
ANDREW FOWLER: McCarthy flew into Washington earlier this year to attend a conference. Security officials had him in their sights the moment he stepped off the plane.
SMARI MCCARTHY: When I get out through the doorway there's two bordering customs control officers. One of them takes a look at my passport, says, "Yes this is the guy", and they walk with me away.
ANDREW FOWLER: McCarthy was questioned for several minutes about the reason for his trip, before the border guards got to the point.
SMARI MCCARTHY: And then about, like, in the last couple of minutes they say, "Well you know we're actually asking you these question is because we know you're related to WikiLeaks", and I say, "Well I was, but I'm no longer". And they ask, like, "So you're not in contact with Julian Assange?" And I say, "No, I have no contact with Julian", and they're like, "Oh, okay", and basically let me out. I'm on my way.
ANDREW FOWLER: But it wasn't the last McCarthy would see of the FBI. After the conference McCarthy had a drink with friends before heading to the Washington Metro. He missed the last train. As he walked out of the Archives Station two men confronted him.
SMARI MCCARTHY: Two guys come up to me and address me by name, and say that they're FBI agents, and, "We'd like to ask you some questions", and I say to them, "Well I've had some beers and I don't have lawyers, so no, I'm not going to answer any questions". They nevertheless give me a piece of paper with a phone number and an email address. This was not a business card, this was a piece of paper. This was just a kind of a card file thing, but it was handwritten and the email address was not at FBI.gov as you would expect from FBI agents.
ANDREW FOWLER: Just why they wouldn't give an FBI email address puzzled McCarthy .
SMARI MCCARTHY: They say, "Well, they contain our full names", and I said, "Why is that a problem?" "Well we're afraid that if our full names… if we give you our full names, then there will be retaliation against us personally from Anonymous."
ANDREW FOWLER: The two men seemed worried he might be a member of the cyber-hacker group Anonymous which had worked with WikiLeaks.
SMARI MCCARTHY: And I said, "Who the hell do you think I am? I'm not like the grand master of Anonymous. There's no… I don't even know anybody in Anonymous," right?
ANDREW FOWLER: McCarthy's experience could be dismissed as an oddity, but in the backstreets of Paris we found someone with a very similar story. Jérémie Zimmermann heads up an Internet activist group. He's a WikiLeaks supporter.
JÉRÉMIE ZIMMERMANN, INTERNET LIBERTY: I'm a friend with Julian. I think he's a he's a very intelligent and and very witty person, and I enjoy very much the conversations we have together.
ANDREW FOWLER: Earlier this year, as he prepared to board a plane at Washington's Dulles Airport, two men approached him about his involvement with WikiLeaks
JÉRÉMIE ZIMMERMANN: They didn't show any badge. So I didn't ask for one, but I saw their colleague maintaining the gate of the plane open, so I thought you don't do that with a, you know, a university library card, so I thought…
ANDREW FOWLER: So you thought they must be FBI?
JÉRÉMIE ZIMMERMANN: I thought they must be FBI – and actually the agent questioning me was a caricature of FBI agent, you know, with a large jaw, short hair, tight suit – and he said, "Well, your name was mentioned in a criminal investigation for conspiracy involving lots of people", and so which case he was referring to it's the Grand Jury in Virginia. And so I ask him, thinking aloud, if I understand correctly: "Either I talk to you or I take full responsibility for my actions in front of a judge during a fair trial". And this is where he replied immediately: "Have you ever been arrested? Have you ever been to jail?" – in an obvious attempt to intimidate me.
ANDREW FOWLER: What do you think they were trying to achieve?
JÉRÉMIE ZIMMERMANN: Maybe it was to turn me into an informant, try to send me, get information from Julian, or whatever. I don't know. I will never know, probably.
MICHAEL RATNER: Zimmermann was stopped roughly at the same time coming back from a similar thing with McCarthy, so I don't know who would be tricking them into thinking they were FBI agents. What we've seen in a couple of these stops in the Assange WikiLeaks case is people introduce themselves as Homeland Security – at least in one instance – and not as FBI and then when they get pushed a little they have to admit they're FBI. Now, it's interesting when you think about it: these people have been hit by the FBI and that what it also tells you that this is a Justice Department investigation of civilians.
ANDREW FOWLER: Even Assange's UK legal advisor, Jennifer Robinson, appears to have been caught in the US dragnet.
JENNIFER ROBINSON: I'd had an incredibly long day at work and I was late to the airport. I rushed out to Heathrow, handed over my passport and the woman behind the desk was having a lot of difficulty. She couldn't check me in. She looked at me in a strange manner and said "Look, this is odd. You're Australian, you're travelling home to Australia, you shouldn't need a visa". I said, "Well no, I'm Australian. Here's my passport, I'm going home", and she said, "I can't check you in".
ANDREW FOWLER: A security officer took Robinson's passport away
JENNIFER ROBINSON: She came back about 15 minutes later carrying a mobile phone, handed my passport to the woman behind the desk and said, "She's inhibited. We can't check her in until we've got approval from Australia House."
ANDREW FOWLER: Though Robinson was eventually allowed to catch the plane, she has still not received an explanation why she is on a so-called "inhibited list". It does not appear to be an Australian government term. But US Homeland Security uses the phrase to identify people who need to be watched.
Now back in England, she continues to be Assange's legal advisor. We caught up with her on a visit to the Ecuadorian Embassy.
JENNIFER ROBINSON: Look he is now gathering and preparing materials for the purpose of his application to the Ecuadorian authorities, and essentially now it's a matter for the Ecuadorian government.
ANDREW FOWLER: How is he… what's his manner like? How's his humour?
JENNIFER ROBINSON: I have never known anyone to deal with the amount of stress that he's under as well as he does. He's in very good spirits and still very committed to WikiLeaks work. He may be confined to the embassy but as he showed during house arrest, that doesn't stop him. In the last 18 months we've seen a television program, we've seen further WikiLeaks releases – so I don't think he'll let this stop him either.
ANDREW FOWLER: Assange's primary concern is that the Australian Government has never properly addressed the central question: the near certainty that a Grand Jury is investigating WikiLeaks and the possibility of him being charged.
JENNIFER ROBINSON: We are very concerned about the very prospect of potential extradition to the US. We need only look to the treatment of Bradley Manning. He's been held in pre-trial detention for more than two years now, in conditions for a large part of that detention which the UN Special Repertoire said amount to torture. We are very concerned about the prospect of him ending up in the US, and the risk of onward extradition from Sweden was always a concern and remains a concern.
ANDREW FOWLER: Once in Sweden he would be at the mercy of a system which has a record of complying with US wishes. And there's evidence that Sweden has acted illegally in past extraditions involving the US.
RICK FALKVINGE: Sweden has frankly always been the United States' lap dog and it's not a matter we are particularly proud of. The Swedish Government has… essentially, whenever a US official says, "Jump", the Sweden Government asks, "How high?"
ANDREW FOWLER: If that seems like a heavy handed comment, there's evidence to back it up.
RICK FALKVINGE: There was a famous case in last decade where a couple of Swedish citizens were even renditioned by the CIA in a quite torturous manner to Egypt where they were tortured further, which goes against every part of Swedish legislation, every international agreement on human rights – and not to say human dignity.
ANDREW FOWLER: A United Nations investigation later found against Sweden. The country was forced to pay compensation. For Assange, coupled with his other experiences of the Swedish judicial system, it is perhaps understandable that he fears ending up in Sweden.
MICHAEL RATNER: For me the question really is if I'm sitting in Julian Assange's if I if I'm sitting in Julian Assange's position, I'd be very, very nervous because the United States gets their hands on you in this case, and you're a goner. So, you know, what I get asked all the time is, "Well, how do you know." To me the question isn't how I know I know there's a lot of evidence out there that it looks like that. To me the burden should be on the United States Government to say, "We are not planning to prosecute Julian Assange". If they just gave that assurance, I can guarantee you that Julian Assange would go to Sweden tomorrow.
KERRY O'BRIEN: We approached Australia's Attorney-General, Nicola Roxon, to pose a number of questions related to the Assange case, but she was unavailable on holidays. Ultimately, some of our questions were answered by a Foreign Affairs spokesman, by email, on behalf of Foreign Minister Bob Carr. They're on our website.
Next week on Four Corners, the woman who forecast her own brutal death, but could find no one willing to listen. Until then, good night.


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Schools seek to combat bullying
ADDISON COUNTY/BRANDON — In the wake of the suicide last week of Mount Abraham student Olivia Scott, which family said was at least in part due to online bullying that the 16-year-old endured, school administrators, counselors and health professionals are stressing the importance of anti-bullying curricula in local schools.
Middlebury Police Officer Chris Mason, who interacts with students every day in his capacity as the Middlebury school resource officer, said youngsters struggle to respond to cyber bullying, and educators have a role in helping them understand the impact of the things they post online.
"Technology has advanced, but our capacity to use it responsibly hasn't caught up," Mason said. "When we talk in person, we see social cues that condition how we respond — there's nothing like that online."
Olivia Scott's family said she was bullied on a the website ask.fm, where she had an account. On the site, anonymous posters can ask questions on a user's page, and the user can answer them. Some of the posts to Scott's account on the website demeaned her appearance and others encouraged her to harm herself.
While local school administrators didn't talk about Scott's particular case, some, like Vergennes Union High School Co-principal Ed Webbley, said instances of cyber bullying have increased in recent years.
"As technology increases, so does the bullying," he said. "It's easier to bully, to harass now."
Unfortunately, adults are often behind the curve when trying to keep up with students' online habits, he noted.
"I don't think anyone in the school knew about ask.fm before this tragedy," Webbley said.
VUHS has an extensive policy for dealing with bullying of all kinds, and it has invited speakers to address students on the impact of bullying. The school makes use of a resource response center and peer mediation. In addition, Webbley said the school has six employees from the Counseling Services of Addison County that work with troubled students.
"We take bullying very seriously," Webbley said.
He credited the school's Morning Meeting program for creating a strong relationship between teachers and students. In the program, teachers follow a group of 12-13 students through their entire four years of high school. The groups meet every morning for 20 minutes.
"We wanted every kid to know that there is an adult with a vested interest in them," Webbley said.
otter valley AND MUHS
Nancy Robinson, co-principal at Otter Valley Union High School, said that students there go through several anti-bullying programs. Faculty use the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. The program is used across the country and has been credited with improving peer-to-peer relations and reducing bullying. Robinson praised the Olweus program for also addressing the responsibility bystanders have when witnessing bullying.
Robinson said that cyber bullying has been on the uptick in recent years, and that the school's computer faculty includes a program about cyber bullying.
She said that it's crucial that parents talk to their children about bullying.
"Sadly, parents don't always realize what's happening — when students are behind screens they're much more courageous," Robinson said. "It's important that parents are aware of what their children are doing and what sites they're on."
Middlebury Union High School addresses bullying through student-to-student, teacher-to-student, and teacher-to-parents outreach. For instance, the school has a peer leader program, where 40 seniors help incoming freshman acclimate with a high school setting, Assistant Principal Catherine Dieman said. These seniors, who go through special training, meet with 9th-graders twice a week.
MUHS also hosts parent nights where officials discuss topics such as social networking, sexting, and drug and alcohol abuse. Students also talk about bullying in their health classes.
"Part of the curriculum deals with healthy relationships," Officer Mason said. "A big part of combating bullying is us finding out about it."
Mason said it is imperative that he and other adults be integrated in the school community. He and other staff focus on building relationships with students, so students feel comfortable approaching staff about personal troubles they may have.
"We have a number of students who come in and report things, and we respond immediately," said Brooke Jette, a prevention specialist.
School counselors facilitate mediations between students who are having problems with each other, which staff credit with improving interpersonal and problem-solving skills.
"The goal of doing this is for students to learn skills to mediate on their own," Dieman said.
Dieman, Mason and Jette agreed that cyber bullying has increased in recent years.
"We encourage parents to play an active role in what their kids are doing in school and online," Mason said.
When cyber bullying comes to light, school officials credit mediation for helping children understand the impact of what they may post online.
"There's a faceless quality to what people say online," Dieman added.
Dieman said that students most often know of new social networking sites before adults, but that staff make a point to communicate with students to find out what these sites are, and how students are using them. Staff also maintain a social media presence — Mason, for example, maintains his own Facebook and Twitter page.
"There are new sites popping up all the time, some set up for high-risk behavior," Jette said. "It's a normative experience to be thrill-seekers, and social media is very instant."
Mason said the most important part of combating bullying is building a sense of community at the school. While he is a police officer and sees the law enforcement side of bullying, he stressed that the most effective tools are things like peer mediation.
Corinna Stewart, associate director of the Counseling Services of Addison County, said that bullying is a complicated issue.
"Bullying is not the clear cut issue that many believe it to be," Stewart wrote in an email to the Independent. "These days it is rarely one sided — bullies have been victims and victims become bullies."
Stewart added that young people, whose brains have not fully developed, psychologically have trouble handling cyber bullying.
"The prevalence of social media that is too often un-supervised and unrelenting makes for a venue that the adolescent brain — and maybe not adult brains either — is not equipped to process fully."
The unceasing nature of online bullying is unlike other forms of harassment, and school and parents alike struggle to find an effective response.
"Parents are often unprepared for the complications of such an emotionally laden and non-stop, intrusive and interrupting force in kids' lives," Stewart said. "Schools are also grappling with how to supervise the use of social media."
mount aBE IN MOURNING
Mount Abraham Union High School hosted a memorial service for Olivia Scott on Tuesday evening and the Independent respected the family's wishes not to have the media attend.
Mount Abe and Addison Northeast Supervisory Union officials declined to talk with the media about their anti-bullying programs in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. But the Independent has highlighted efforts at the school to educate students on bullying.
The school, for instance, sponsors the Mount Abraham Vermont Teen Leadership Safety Program, which brings students together to work on a variety of issued designed to empower students. Last year the group was behind the Kindness Campaign, which promoted bullying awareness by recognizing students who were going out of their way to be kind. The school has also observed a Wear Purple Day, in which students and staff wore purple ribbons or hearts and signed cards pledging their support for efforts to end bullying and harassment.
Mount Abe senior Addy Campbell, in a letter to the Independent (See Page 4A), said the school community was grieving and struggling to comprehend the loss. She supported the school's teachers and administrators, who she said support the students.
"As a student, I firmly believe that our school is a good place to be, our community is one of acceptance, and its staff a group of adults deeply concerned about our emotional well-being," she wrote.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Tri County Tree Service
Tree Removal and Trimming Services, Serving Audrain, Callaway, and Montgomery Counties!
We are a group of experienced arborists who specialize in tree trimming and removal. With years of training and experience, our team is equipped to handle any tree-related project with precision and care.
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Mexico, formerly known as New Mexico, is a city in and the county seat of Audrain County, Missouri. It is home to the Missouri Military Academy and annually hosts the Miss Missouri Pageant. The city's population was 11,469 at the 2020 census. The micropolitan statistical area consists of Audrain County. It is a part of the Columbia, Missouri metropolitan area.
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Javascript Development Services
JavaScript is a programming language that is used with HTML coding to enhance user experience. It offers a way to enhance the functionality and design of your website content with dynamic effects that include drop down menus, slideshows, image and menu rollovers, news scroller, embedded audio and video, toggle buttons, collapsing and expanding text. JavaScript also provides integration with a number of plugins for Content Management System and Ecommerce Applications. JavaScript is also used to validate data inputted by users on website forms.
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It solves some of the biggest headaches in web development – data binding, efficient DOM updates, event handling – and does so with almost no learning curve.
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Knockout is a JavaScript library that helps you to create rich, responsive display and editor user interfaces with a clean underlying data model.
Backbone JS
Backbone.js gives structure to web applications by providing models with key-value binding and custom events, collections with a rich API of enumerable functions, views with declarative event handling, and connects it all to your existing API over a RESTful JSON interface.
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Underscore is a JavaScript library that provides a whole mess of useful functional programming helpers without extending any built-in objects.
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Mustache is a logic-less template syntax. It can be used for HTML, config files, source code - anything. It works by expanding tags in a template using values provided in a hash or object.
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Ember.js is built for productivity. Designed with developer ergonomics in mind, its friendly APIs help you get your job done—fast.
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Prototype takes the complexity out of client-side web programming. Built to solve real-world problems, it adds useful extensions to the browser scripting environment and provides elegant APIs around the clumsy interfaces of Ajax and the Document Object Model.
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Brad Kalvo
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Photo Gallery
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NEW YORK – Maria Sharapova's stomach ache turned out to be nothing more than that.
That lopsided loss she suffered at the Olympics — well, that may have only been a false alarm, as well.
Playing her first match since a blowout loss to Serena Williams in London and a stomach virus forced her out of two tuneup tournaments, Sharapova returned to tennis in fine fashion Monday at the U.S. Open.
The third-seeded Russian came back from a three-week break and defeated Melinda Czink of Hungary 6-2, 6-2 in a stress-free, 67-minute first-round match at blustery Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Later, top-seeded Roger Federer took center stage and beat American Donald Young 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to begin the chase for his 18th major title.
Sharapova completed the career Grand Slam earlier this year by winning the French Open. Monday's victory, in front of the half-filled stadium, was her first match since a 6-0, 6-1 loss to Williams at the London Games in a gold-medal showdown that looked more like one of these first-round wipeouts Sharapova usually inflicts.
Turns out, Sharapova was dealing with some stomach pain then, which only got worse a few weeks later. She went to the doctor for a series of tests, including an ultrasound to see if she was pregnant. The test turned up negative.
"Just because of the pain I was having, it was really weird," said Sharapova, who is engaged to basketball player Sasha Vujacic. "They told me I was fine, not pregnant. Then, I'm like, 'Can I get my money back?'"
It has been an eventful summer for one of tennis' biggest stars.
After serving as the flag-bearer for Russia, then finishing as the silver medalist at the Olympics at Wimbledon, Sharapova's original plan was to come to North America and play in tuneups in Montreal and Cincinnati to acclimate herself to the hard courts.
But the Olympics took a lot out of Sharapova, and when she arrived in Canada, she got knocked down by a stomach ache so bad that she went to the doctor.
It turned out to be a virus — her body's way of telling her to take it easy, she said, so she withdrew from the events and took a few weeks off.
"It was a nice break in a way, but after so many weeks of practicing, you're just eager to get back on the court," she said.
She looked eager to get off the court, as well, showing very few signs of rust against her 88th-ranked opponent.
Wearing a soft-pink dress with a touch of mauve — more subdued than what she usually wears for, say, a nighttime appearance — Sharapova served five aces and maxed out at 115 mph. It took her 31 minutes to finish the first set and she was up 3-0 in the second before Czink got her only break.
That made things only mildly interesting, and only for a very short time. Leading 4-2, Sharapova won one point by chasing a ball almost into the stands on the sidelines, reaching out to get it back, then closing in on the net to win the point. Czink stood there shaking her head, hardly believing what she had just seen.
Sharapova said getting the blowout loss to Williams out of her mind was not a problem.
"It doesn't stick with you," she said. "I mean, personally, I've been part of many different types of matches in my career. Looking back at that week, it was really special. It was so hectic."
The routine win was part of a day filled mostly with by-the-book results: Defending champion Sam Stosur's 6-1, 6-1 victory over Croatia's Petra Martic, No. 3 Andy Murray's 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 win over Alex Bogomolov Jr., of Russia and, of course, a two-hour rain delay at a tournament that has finished on a Monday for four straight years because of bad weather.
Federer closed the night with a 1-hour, 34-minute dispatching of Young and stayed in the mix for his sixth U.S. Open title. Federer, a loser to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals the last two years, is seeded first for the 23rd time at a Grand Slam, breaking the record he shared with Pete Sampras.
"Being back in New York as world No. 1, it's crazy, and I really, really enjoy it," Federer said.
Before Federer played, No. 23 Kim Clijsters extended her Flushing Meadows winning streak to 22 straight matches, defeating the youngest player in the field, 16-year-old American Victoria Duval, 6-3, 6-1.
Top-seeded Victoria Azarenka, the Australian Open champion, began the quest for her second Grand Slam title of the year with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Alexandra Panova.
Stosur won the day's first match in Ashe, and any thought that the early round jitters might get to her — the way they did in first-round exits at the Australian Open and the Olympics or a second-round loss at Wimbledon — were over before the crowd even got settled.
The seventh-seeded Aussie won the first 19 points — she was five away from a perfect set before she double-faulted — and needed only 51 minutes to finish the match.
"It did pop into my head for a split second," Stosur said of the prospect of a golden set. "Then I hit the double fault and it was erased and I was quickly on with the next point."
Murray is trying to become the first man to win the Olympics and the U.S. Open in the same year. His first match of 2012 at Flushing Meadows gave him a decent test — with just a little something to worry about.
He fell down a break to open the first two sets but won the last five games of the first and last four games of the second, then cruised in the third, which he began by shouting "focus."
"It's an important stage of the match, when he was up 4-3 in the second with a break, then I won three games in a row and momentum was with me," Murray said. "You want to win the matches as quickly as possible."
He finished with 46 winners to 24 for Bogomolov, and handled the array of drop shots Bogomolov tried on him. Leading 4-1 in the third set, Murray grabbed his left hamstring while lunging for a ball near the net. But he closed out the match with no problem.
"Maybe I didn't take enough fluid," Murray said.
That could have been the problem No. 22 Florian Mayer encountered, as well. He withdrew while trailing 19-year-old American wild card Jack Sock 6-3, 6-2, 3-2, saying he felt dizzy and had blurred vision.
"He played the perfect match," Mayer said. "He hit the forehand fast, didn't really make any mistakes, just played really good."
Sock advanced to the second round for the second straight year. He'll be joined by Americans James Blake, a four-set winner over Lukas Lacko of Slovakia, 23rd-seeded Mardy Fish, who beat Go Soeda of Japan in three sets, and Tim Smyczek, who won 1-6, 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 over Bobby Reynolds in a 3-hour, 33-minute, all-American matchup between qualifiers.
"It's obviously the biggest tournament for us Americans but I'm just trying to go about my business and treat it like any other week," said Smyczek, ranked 179th, after recording his first victory in a Grand Slam tournament.
Other winners included 24th-seeded Marcel Granollers on the men's side and 11th-seeded Marion Bartoli, No. 9 Li Na and No. 5 Petra Kvitova in the women's draw.
Andy Roddick, Serena Williams and Djokovic, the defending champion, were scheduled to play Tuesday.


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How many University of Miami students can truly say they were destined to attend UM? How many can say they were destined to be an acclaimed entertainer? While many wish and dream, one alumnus has actually made those dreams and aspirations reality: musician, actor and UM alum Eric Alexandrakis.
Born across the street from campus at Doctors Hospital, UM has always been a second home to Eric Alexandrakis, especially with his father, Dr. George Alexandrakis, teaching as a physics professor at the university.
"Eric was raised in an academic environment. The Hurricanes' games became part of all our lives," Dr. Alexandrakis said. "We loved our university and Eric was attached to UM just as much as we were. He himself decided not to even apply elsewhere."
Though his father took the science route, Eric Alexandrakis developed a passion for the arts early on in his adolescence, listening to legendary composers like John Williams and Mozart.
Eric Alexandrakis' musical inspirations now range from John Lennon to his three partners: guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, drummer Steve Ferrone and multi-platinum producer Anthony J. Resta.
"I am a fan of anyone that is exceptionally creative," Eric Alexandrakis said.
Nevertheless, before he was marking the Top 40 U.S. Adult Contemporary Radio charts, Eric Alexandrakis started as a public relations and English literature double major at UM. During his undergraduate years, he spent most of his free time in recording studios and feels he learned a great deal about networking while at UM.
"Being at a university (and one of the best) is essential to anyone's education. Not just because of the knowledge you gain, but also because of the interactions [and] connections you make," he said. "It's a society within a society, and it's important to learn how to function within society. UM is extremely good at that."
Eric Alexandrakis later attended UM's graduate program in music business and entertainment industries and began pursuing his musical career professionally.
"I was willing to learn; I'd kill myself to meet the right people. This isn't necessarily the best thing, as some people try to take advantage of you in the worst of ways. I've had a plethora of this along the way, but I learned how to present myself credibly and weed out the overly superlative phonies," he said.
Once he made the decision to pursue a career in music, Eric Alexandrakis stuck to it even during trying times.
According to his parents, he wrote, composed and produced his first album while receiving chemotherapy to battle Hodgkin's disease, a type of white blood-cell cancer.
Despite the seriousness of his illness, his parents remember that in the midst of receiving transfusions, he still managed to make funny faces that made them smile.
Eric Alexandrakis' latest EP "Terra Firma" is a conceptual travel album, whose style can best be described as "avant-pop electro." Singles for the EP will be released every two weeks via social networks like Facebook; the album should be available in early 2012.
Jamie Stephens may be contacted at firstname.lastname@example.com.
Fun Facts about Eric Alexandrakis…
-When asked who his biggest fan is, Eric proudly claims his three-year-old son.
-Aside from music, Eric possesses a talent for acting, as can be seen in his minor appearances in movie hits like "Miami Vice" and the television series "Dexter."


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"CD-ROM is read-only memory, and audio compact disc system is available as package-media of digital data for those purpose. For playing audio CD, please insert Head-phone jack." | ||
--from a CD-ROM instruction manual |
Don't Panic! The world of CD-ROM technology is not as confusing as your instruction manual.
CD-ROM stands for Compact Disc Read-Only Memory, a mass storage medium utilizing an optical laser to read microscopic pits on the aluminized layer of a polycarbonate disc. The same format is used for audio Compact Discs. Because of its high storage capacity, reliability, and low cost, CD-ROM has become an increasingly popular storage media.
The storage capacity of a CD-ROM disc is approximately 650 megabytes, equivalent to over 500 high density 3.5" floppy disks or roughly 250,000 typed pages.
First generation drives (known as single speed), provided a transfer rate of approximately 150 kilobytes per second. Hardware manufacturers then introduced double speed (300 kB/sec), quad speed (600 kB/sec), and higher. Current drives operate at up to 40 times speed, although the maximum rate is only achievable over certain portions of the disc surface.
Most CD-ROM drives use either the Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI), ATAPI enhanced IDE interface, or a vendor proprietary interface. They also typically support playing audio CDs via an external headphone jack or line level output. Most drives also allow reading the frames of data from audio CDs in digital form.
CD-ROMs are usually formatted with an ISO-9660 (formerly called High Sierra) file system. This format restricts filenames to the MS-DOS style (8+3 characters). The Rock Ridge Extensions use undefined fields in the ISO-9660 standard to support longer filenames and additional Unix style information (e.g. file ownership, symbolic links, etc.). Microsoft has defined a proprietary ISO file system extension called Joliet which supports long filenames using the 16-bit UNICODE character encoding.
PhotoCD is a standard developed by Kodak for storing photographic images as digital data on a CD-ROM. With appropriate software, you can view the images on a computer, manipulate them, or send them to a printer. Information can be added to a PhotoCD at a later date; this is known as multi-session capability.
CD recordable (CD-R) drives allow writing onto a special "gold" CD which can then be read by any CD-ROM drive. Data can only be written once, although using multi-session new data can be appended to a disc.
CD-RW (rewritable) drives can be erased and rewritten with new data. They use special discs which can be read by most recent CD-ROM drives (but not older ones or most audio CD players).
DVD-ROM expands the storage of a CD to as much as 17 gigabytes. They are commonly used as a medium for distributing full length motion pictures encoded using the MPEG-2 format. The MPEG video decoding is performed using specialized decoder software and/or hardware. DVD-RAM is a writable version of DVD.


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Since December 2015, Jamil Jude has served as Park Square Theatre's Artistic Programming Associate. As such, he is mentored by Artistic Director Richard Cook through the Leadership U[niversity] – One-on-One Program to foster the professional development of early-career, rising leaders of theatre. Jamil was only one of six exceptionally talented applicants awarded such a mentorship by Theatre Communications Group, the national organization formed to strengthen, nurture and promote professional nonprofit American theatre.
While Jamil may be most visible to our audiences as the facilitator for post-show discussions, such as the upcoming Sunday, February 19, Musings for Nina Simone: Four Women or most recently as a promoter of Nina on Fox 9 with Alix Kendall, his work at Park Square, Jamil explained, "is really focused on advancing our broader inclusivity goals."
"Richard began the work by expanding Park Square's repertoire–the stories we tell and the artists who tell them," Jamil elaborated. "I've been lucky enough to assist in that effort, retooling our process of identifying plays and artists, introducing new systems meant to streamline our production process and being another set of artistic eyes as plays move towards the stage. It's amazing to witness a theatre like Park Square in this part of its growth."
Over 40 years later, Park Square Theatre remains a work in progress, an organization in dynamic change to, as Jamil describes, "develop a deeper understanding of its place in the community and how to respond to the needs, wants and aesthetic desires of said community. To play a small part in that is a humbling experience."
Work in progress is also an apt description for Jamil Jude himself. He, too, continually examines his purpose and relevance as an artist. Self-defined as an "Artist Plus," he works as a freelance director, producer, playwright, dramaturg, speaker or whatever role needed to pursue an artistic vision. That vision is, more often than not, in service to social justice. He has, in fact, more specifically described himself as a "social justice based art maker dedicated to building communities, bringing new communities to the arts and to using the arts as a means to eliminate artificial barriers that society imposes."
Besides Park Square Theatre, Jamil has been involved in various ways with other theatre organizations throughout the Twin Cities, including Mixed Blood Theatre Company, Children's Theatre Company, Guthrie Theater, Daleko Arts, Theatre in the Round, Minnesota Fringe Festival and more. He is also a co-producer of The New Griots Festival, dedicated to promoting the work of the next generation of Twin Cities black artists across disciplines (visual, performing, literary, etc.).
Also fitting is that Jamil recently directed Baltimore is Burning, a new play about the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. It was the inaugural production for the promising new theatre company Underdog Theatre, which "creates art for the underserved, underrepresented, and unheard," and satisfyingly garnered good reviews. Kory LaQuess Pullam, who has graced Park Square's stages, is its playwright and the founding artistic director of Underdog.
Dear to Jamil's heart is his latest project, directing The Highwaymen, a new play based on research that Jamil and playwright Josh Wilder did on the destruction of St. Paul's Rondo neighborhood in the 1960s to make way for I-94. The demolition of that thriving, predominantly black community echoed similar occurrences throughout the nation to make way for progress on the backs of people of color. Josh dedicated The Highwaymen, which runs through February 26 at the History Theatre in St. Paul, to "the memories we step on and the lives we drive over."
In November 2015, Jamil was listed in American Theatre, a publication and theatre communications group, as one of "Six Theatre Workers You Should Know." Whether as part of Park Square Theatre, someone else's team or working solo, he'll ever strive to bring us socially relevant theatre to spark constructive community interactions and inspire social change. Whatever Jamil touches, you can just feel them coming: those positive vibrations.


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'Project Runway' Recap: It's My Way on the Runway
Aug. 17 2012, Published 4:51 a.m. ET
We open with what seems like an extra-long flashback of last week's episode, probably because it was the last time we'd get to hear Buffi Jashanmal's amazing accent. But don't get too upset! OK! is thrilled to announce that Buffi will be one of our guest bloggers on Fridays! Look for Buffi's Bootcamp later today — she will be discussing Project Runway, health and fitness tips, fashion and whatever else her little heart desires. So, we still get to hear her voice, just in a different way.
Featured in this week's episode is another team challenge. The designers are tasked with creating a capsule collection of professional — yet editorial — women's wear. The winning team's looks will be featured in a spread for an upcoming issue of Marie Claire at Work. Nina Garcia, clad in a fabulous white jacket, tells them the news, which hopefully softened the blow of seeing Heidi Klum step out with that damn button bag.
"Honestly, I want to kill myself," Ven Budhu says. So, maybe not.
Sonjia Williams won the last challenge, so she gets to start building her team first. There are no team captains, but the designers still must endure this elementary school method of picking teams. Sonjia chooses Elena Slivnyak for her construction skills, and probably also so she won't kill her in her sleep.
In the end, the teams look like this:
Team 5 (five designers): Nathan Paul, Ven, Christopher Palu, Fabio Costa and Gunnar Deatherage
Team 6 (six designers): Sonjia, Elena, Melissa Fleis, Dmirtry Sholokhov, Alicia Hardesty and Raul Osorio
After a chaotic shopping trip to Mood, everyone heads back to the workroom, where it is discovered that a bag is missing from Team 6. It contains wool Elena was going to use to make another giant jacket. Oh, wells.
While Team 6 is arguing, Team 5 is practically whistling while they work. Tim Gunn (yay, Tim!) drops in to see how everyone's doing. Team 5 is using black, white and a purple-pink-turquoise print that we really don't like. They don't seem to have any real problems though. Even Gunnar and Christopher appear to be getting along. Also, Ven, Nathan and Christopher have been dubbed "silk chiffonsies" because of their pension for the material. We love this.
- Nina Garcia, Brandon Maxwell and Elaine Welteroth Dish on Welcoming Back Former 'Project Runway' Contestants for Season 20
- Hailey Bieber, Ciara, Jennifer Hudson, More Shine At ELLE's 27th Annual Women In Hollywood Celebration
- Best Celebrity Instagram Pics Of The Week: Vanessa Hudgens, Brad Goreski and More!
Team 6 gives Tim a glum "hello." They're miserable. Elena is cursing at everyone, Raul is making an ugly blouse with what Gunnar rightly describes as "fish fin" ruffles, and apparently everyone hates navy blue, which Dmitry is using in his color-block dress. We don't understand the navy hate. We do understand the frustration with Raul and Elena.
"Everyone hates Elena," Dmitry says. "Even if they say they like her, they hate her." Can we please have more of Dmitry's commentary? He is unintentionally hilarious. Another shining example: "He is a one-way monkey," Dmitry said of Ven. "Wait. A one-trick pony, that's what I meant."
Still, Tim is impressed with Team 6's work so far, and assures them that they're on the right track. Some of the tension is alleviated. Tim Gunn is like Excedrin Migraine for a design team. Unfortunately, it doesn't last through the next day's photo shoot. There are arguments about the use of props and about Elena starting arguments.
On to the runway! Joining Heidi, Nina and Michael Kors this week is the fabulously classy editor-in-chief of Marie Claire, Joanna Coles.
Team 5
Nathan's outfit consisted of a matronly one-shoulder blouse and pants that no one would ever wear — ever. Christopher, meanwhile, made that print look fresh and modern, using the same technique for the skirt that he used for his Times Square dress. We would wear this. Gunnar's dress is just not something you'd wear to the office. Heidi said it made the model look like she had "souffle boobs" before also calling it "inappropriate." Michael went nuts over Fabio's black-and-white dress. We thought it was ok. We did appreciate that the pattern on the back was different from the one on the front; that kept it from being too predictable. We're not digging the headwrap, but we can forgive it. It is definitely the most wearable garment on the runway in terms of age range, which was smart for the team to think about. Finally, Ven's look is the only other one we would wear as is — the architectural elements were beautiful, and kudos to him for not using that icky floral print.
Team 6
They were the winners for us. This team had the only two looks we really loved: Melissa's dress and Dmitry's dress. We really hope Melissa works with color more in the future, because she quite obviously knows how to pick them. That blue was electric and still somehow sophisticated. The high neck and asymmetrical zipper were perfect touches. Edgy, but not too dramatic. Dmitry's black-and-navy color-block dress was perfectly made, and we loved the peek of skin in the back! We agree with Joanna though, you couldn't wear it to work. That's okay, though, that's what jackets are for. This would have been a great day-to-night look. Elena made one decent jacket and one hideous jacket. We thought the crotch on Alicia's wide-legged pants was a little weird, but no one else mentioned it. Considering who was there, we will assume we are wrong. She also made a skinny pant. We love that she thought about versatility. Sonjia's pencil skirt and draped skirt were both nice, especially the latter. The top Raul made for Sonjia's draped skirt was fine, but nothing special. And the fish-fin-ruffle blouse is just... exactly how it sounds.
In the end, Melissa is deservedly declared the winner, and Team 6's looks win the Marie Claire spread. Raul is auf'd for the second time.
We want to know what you thought! Who would you want on your team? Sound off below, or Tweet me @reallylsass.


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New program will help expand global talent pool of experienced Linux pros and offer the first fully virtual, performance-based, distribution-flexible certification exam
Chicago, Ill. LINUXCON & CLOUDOPEN, August 20, 2014 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux and collaborative development, today is announcing a new Linux Foundation Certification Program for both early-career and engineer-level systems administrators.
To celebrate the new program, The Linux Foundation is giving away nearly 1,000 free exams today to attendees at LinuxCon and CloudOpen and is offering exams to the next 500 people for a special introductory price of $50. Regular exam price is $300.
Combined with increased Linux training offerings and a free 'Introduction to Linux' Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) introduced earlier this year, The Linux Foundation Certification Program will help expand the talent pool of Linux professionals worldwide. Demand for experienced Linux professionals continues to grow with this year's Linux Jobs Report showing that managers are prioritizing Linux hires and paying more for this talent. Because Linux runs today's global technology infrastructure, companies around the world are looking for more Linux professionals yet most hiring managers say that finding Linux talent is difficult.[1]
The new Certification Program exams and designations for Linux Foundation Certified System Administrator (LFCS) and Linux Foundation Certified Engineer (LFCE) will demonstrate that users are technically competent through a groundbreaking, performance-based exam that is available online, from anywhere and at any time.
Key features of the Linux Foundation Certifications include:
- Virtual, available anytime, anywhere in the world: The Linux Foundation has designed a secure, performance-based exam that can be taken with a web browser, microphone, Internet connection and web cam from anywhere in the world, including the student's own desktop at their convenience. After years of design and development, this cutting-edge exam now opens testing opportunities to people who previously were not able to access testing centers with exams available as early as the next day after registration.
- Performance-based exams: Exam takers will be tested on their ability to solve real problems in the command line rather than be tested on theory or be given multiple choice questions. These new certifications reflect what has become the consensus in the technology industry: what matters most is whether or not the candidate can demonstrate the required skills in a real-world environment while the clock is ticking. The Linux Foundation Certification Exams are designed to confirm this critical requirement.
- Distribution-flexible: The Linux ecosystem is defined by choice, so exam takers will be able to choose to take their tests with one of three Linux distributions: CentOS, openSUSE or Ubuntu. This will also allow employers to hire professionals who have proven competence in the distributions and technologies most important to their businesses. The Linux Foundation tests will provide an option for distributions not well covered in the certification market today and also augment existing certification programs focused on one distribution by demonstrating distribution flexibility and knowledge for those companies with heterogeneous Linux environments.
These unique features are designed to ensure that anyone in the world with the latest, most relevant Linux skills can access the program and become certified regardless of distribution. By demonstrating their ongoing commitment to keeping up with the dynamic Linux environment through ongoing professional education, Linux Foundation Certificate holders will be distinguished in the marketplace.
The Linux Foundation Certification Program and exams have been informed by a committee of industry experts and a deep analysis of what skills are required of today's Linux professionals. Candidates who earn a Linux Foundation Certification will represent the best of the best and demonstrate in-depth technical know-how well above and beyond the average professional. Certification from the Linux Foundation is expected to be widely respected and highly sought-after.
"Our mission is to address the demand for Linux that the industry is currently experiencing. We are making our training program and Linux certification more accessible to users worldwide, since talent isn't confined to one geography or one distribution," said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. "Our new Certification Program will enable employers to easily identify Linux talent when hiring and uncover the best of the best. We think Linux professionals worldwide will want to proudly showcase their skills through these certifications and that these certificates will become a hallmark of quality throughout our industry."
The LFCS and LFCE exams cost $300 each and can be taken anywhere, anytime. Certification holders will receive a graphical mark designating their completion of the exam that can be displayed on resumes, LinkedIn profiles, websites and more. The Linux Foundation also plans on helping successful candidates market themselves at its LinuxCon and CloudOpen conferences worldwide and on Linux.com, among other venues.
For more information and to sign up for an exam, please visit: http://training.linuxfoundation.org/certification. For special discounts and promotions, please follow http://www.twitter.com/lf_training
Supporting Comments
"The Linux Foundation's certification program will open new doors for Linux professionals who need a way to demonstrate their know-how and put them ahead of the rest," said Mark Shuttleworth, founder, Ubuntu. "The timing is perfect for this, as demand for Linux talent is on the rise and we need ways to expand the pool of qualified candidates to support Linux."
"Linux certification that is based on performance and is easily accessible will be key to increasing the number of qualified Linux professionals," said Mark Cathcart, Senior Distinguished Engineer, Dell. "The Linux Foundation's approach to this market need is smart and thoughtful and they have the proven ability to deliver."
"Certifications inspire employer confidence that professionals who are willing to invest the time and effort are passionate about their craft," said Shravan Goli, President, Dice. "With the focus on performance and accessibility, the new program will advance the art of Linux learning and help build a talented pool of Linux professionals."
"There is a need for a truly global Linux certification program that can enable Linux professionals anywhere to demonstrate their know-how," said Eileen Evans, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel, Cloud Computing and Open Source, HP. "The Linux Foundation Certification Program promises to deliver on this need, and we look forward to reaping the benefits of an increase in qualified Linux professionals in the market."
"The new Linux Foundation Certification Program is truly innovative. With attention to performance and accessibility, this program should have a huge impact on the number of skilled professionals supporting Linux," said Dr. Peixin Hou, Chief Architect on Open Software and System, Huawei.
"The Linux Foundation Certification Program will help prepare Linux system administrators to have the technical depth of expertise required today in the enterprise. This approach to training and certification will give professionals the skills needed by employers like us and our many clients who rely on Linux," said Jim Wasko, Director, IBM Linux Technology Center.
Insight Global
"Linux professionals with a strong certification are often more likely to be considered for open positions than their non-certified counterparts," said Brantley Smith, Account Manager, Insight Global. "The Linux Foundation's convenient, distribution-neutral certification program will bring more Linux talent into the marketplace and make it easier for employers to assess the skill level of those in the market."
"In fact, I have used The Linux Foundation to validate the skills of our internal IT team, ensuring that we have the capabilities we need to drive our business-critical applications," said Christopher Vogel, COO/CIO, Insight Global.
"The Linux Foundation is helping expand the talent pool of Linux professionals in a variety of ways. The Linux Foundation Certification Program adds to existing programs to ensure we as a community can meet this rising demand," said Andy Wafaa, openSUSE Board Member.
"As Linux continues to be a driving force for supporting applications across the data center and into the cloud, the need for Linux professionals continues to grow," said Wim Coekaerts, senior vice president, Linux and Virtualization Engineering, Oracle. "The Linux Foundation Certification Program can provide an easy entry point for IT professionals who need to learn how to manage Linux systems."
"Linux is among the key building blocks of the cloud," said Tim Miller, vice president of engineering at RightScale. "We think it is great that the Linux Foundation is helping ensure that people working with Linux in the cloud have the background and skill sets to continue to drive cloud adoption."
"The Linux Foundation's Certification will be accessible to a global community of Linux professionals and can become the common standard for "Linux expertise" like The Linux Foundation's LSB does for the common Linux interfaces," said Vladimir Rubanov, President and CTO, ROSA.
"Linux professionals are in high demand across multiple areas of technology," said Ibrahim Haddad, Head of Open Source Innovation Group at Samsung Research America, Samsung. "The Linux Foundation's smart, in-depth approach to the providing Linux certification will help meet this demand with qualified programmers and engineers."
"The need for trained and experienced Linux engineers and administrators affects every Linux enterprise user and distributor," said Alan Clark, Director, SUSE. "The introduction of additional quality training and certification will only enhance the growth, development and adoption of Linux and the ability of enterprises to take advantage of its many and varied features and strengths."
"Linux provides a stable foundation for Yahoo's systems, helping us run one of the largest cloud infrastructures in the world. Skilled Linux professionals are key to our success," said Sven Dummer, Director OS & UNIX System Infrastructure, Yahoo. "The Linux Foundation Certification Program focuses on the latest technologies. The annual requirements to maintain certification will help bring more qualified talent into the marketplace, and support Linux professionals in keeping their expertise up to date."
About The Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux and collaborative software development. Founded in 2000, the organization sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and promotes, protects and advances the Linux operating system and collaborative software development by marshaling the resources of its members and the open source community. The Linux Foundation provides a neutral forum for collaboration and education by hosting Collaborative Projects, Linux conferences including LinuxCon, and generating original research and content that advances the understanding of Linux and collaborative software development. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org.
Trademarks: The Linux Foundation, Linux Standard Base, MeeGo, Tizen and Yocto Project are trademarks of The Linux Foundation. OpenBEL is a trademark of OpenBEL Consortium. OpenDaylight is a trademark of OpenDaylight Project. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.
Media Contacts
Jennifer Cloer
The Linux Foundation
Dan Brown
The Linux Foundation
- Dent Introduces Industry's First End-to-End Networking Stack Designed for the Modern Distributed Enterprise Edge and Powered by Linux - 12/17/2020
- Open Mainframe Project Welcomes New Project Tessia, HCL Technologies and Red Hat to its Ecosystem - 12/17/2020
- New Open Source Contributor Report from Linux Foundation and Harvard Identifies Motivations and Opportunities for Improving Software Security - 12/08/2020


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This Might Be the Best (And Most Improbable) 3-Pointer You Will Ever See [VIDEO]
Amazing shots never get old.
High school basketball player Marvey'o Otey recovers from a bad pass pretty darned well to make a 3-pointer while simply trying to save the ball from going out of bounds. And, unlike some ridiculous shots, this one went in the right basket.
Otey is definitely more than just okay on this shot, but we'll leave it up to you to debate if he outshines this classic.


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By: Goodman Lipkind
Dayyan, or assistant rabbi, of the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation of London, England, and principal of Jews' College. He was born in Warsaw, Poland, in 1831, and died in London, November 15, 1863. Abrahams was educated at University College, and received the degree of B.A. from the University of London. He received his rabbinical instruction from his father. From a minor position in the Spanish congregation Abrahams became dayyan, performing at the same time the duties of ḥakam. On the resignation of Dr. Loewe Abrahams became principal ofJews' College, a position for which he was eminently fitted, as the bent of his mind was toward the education of the young. With this object before him he succeeded in founding the Society for the Diffusion of Religious Knowledge Among the Young, and he remained one of its most influential members till his death. He wrote several of the tracts published by the society. Two of his sons, Joseph and Moses, became Jewish ministers, and a third son, Israel, is senior tutor of Jews' College.
- Jew. Chron. Nov. 20, 1863.


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Parent Disclosure Policy
University of New Haven, Campus Access Services
The parent (or legal guardian) of a primary or secondary school pupil with a disability is an essential participant in school decisions about that child's disability-related needs. When that child enters the university, however, the parent no longer participates directly in the institution's decision-making process. The parent may continue to offer the student advice and support, but the student becomes solely responsible for communicating with university personnel about disability-related matters.
ARC staff are aware of the difficulty of this role change, and welcome the opportunity to offer advice and general policy information to the parents of students with disabilities; however, the parent is not recognized by the ARC as a surrogate for the student in matters related to the student's disability accommodations and services. In accordance with this perspective, the ARC has established the following regarding parental involvement.
A student who wishes to request disability accommodations or a formal review of disability documentation must submit a written and signed or in person request for such services. A request from a parent, a legal guardian, a clinician, a school official, or another third party will not be accepted in lieu of a direct request from the student.
ARC personnel will not discuss the following with the parent or legal guardian of a student unless the student is present during the discussion AND a signed release of information from the student is on file with the ARC.
- the contents of a clinician's report or other documentation of disability
- additional documentation needed to fulfill documentation requirements
- the status of the disability documentation review process or the results of that process
- a student's accommodation needs, approved disability accommodations or utilization of such accommodations, or the status of a student's request for accommodations and services
- a student's academic progress
When appropriate, the student receives detailed written communication from the ARC concerning these matters. Parents and legal guardians are encouraged, therefore, to request information directly from the student.